Turmoil in the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Serbia should apologise for the Scorpions who killed children

The session of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina began at 10:00 this morning, and the discussion on the agenda and its adoption lasted until after 1:00 PM, reports a reporter from the Patria news agency.

After comments on the received answers, the deputies began the debate, and the presiding officer Šefik Džaferović limited the discussion to five minutes.

Passions flared again when it came to adopting conclusions regarding the events during the commemoration in Potočari on July 11, as proposed by deputy Aleksandra Pandurević.

She initially made some technical changes, i.e., corrections. Denis Bećirović, an SDP deputy, said that these points had passed, but that it was not possible to also discuss attacks on returnees.

- Why that is so should be left for the public to question. It is not clear to me what apologies from a legislative body mean. No one has yet been convicted for the murder in Banja Luka when the cornerstone for the Ferhadija mosque was laid, thousands of fans were stoned in Serbia, and the Serbian Assembly did not apologise. I condemn every form of violence, but an honest and well-intentioned Bosniak is as valuable to me as an honest Serb, Croat, Jew, and I do not know whose policy has brought me to the point where I should apologise to Vučić, who said in the Assembly that 100 Muslims should be killed for every Serb. Has the Serbian Assembly apologised for the Scorpions and the murders of children? Why have we been brought to a position where we humiliate ourselves so much and do what we are doing? Either we will set a principle starting from the rulings of the International Court - says Bećirović.

Zaim Backović (SBiH) reminded that on this day over 3,000 shells were fired on Sarajevo.

- Compare the footage of Vučić above the Jewish Cemetery, everything can be compared. That was during the artillery fire. I am for all legal sanctions to be applied against the perpetrators of violence, but I cannot accept that 100 Muslims will be killed for one Serb - said Backović, adding that no one in the hall received their name by their own will.

Šemsudin Mehmedović, an SDA deputy, said that he was in Potočari and knows what happened on July 11, but that the activities preceding that day increased tensions.

- What happened is not good, because even the mothers of Srebrenica welcomed him. That is why we, as citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, should not have treated the Prime Minister of Serbia that way. If anyone needed to apologise, it was Prime Minister Denis Zvizdić. We are the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and I believe we should not apologise to anyone. The SDA club will not support this conclusion. Our discussions should not contribute to raising tensions and opening painful topics. We should move towards calming passions - emphasised Mehmedović.

Staša Košarac, an SNSD deputy who stayed at the session only to participate in this debate (the request for the removal of Šefik Džaferović was not adopted, editor's note), said that he could say a lot, including that it was not an attack but an attempt to kill Vučić.

- I could ask where Naser Orić was, just as you ask where Vučić was during the war. But we need to be aware of the fact that Vučić intended to pay his respects to the victims, and what did he get and what message does Bosnia and Herzegovina send - emphasised Košarac, adding that this should never happen to anyone.

- Let us not be unaware of the fact that the institutions have done nothing regarding this issue. Well, this was an international incident - added Košarac.

Denis Bećirović replied to Košarac, saying that Serbia is not a guarantor of the Dayton Peace Agreement.

- Three parties are signatories. But Serbia is not its guarantor. Secondly, this is the year we mark the 20th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica. Neither the RS nor Serbia has adopted a document condemning it, but it will be recorded that the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina apologised to Vučić. I do not agree to that. And if we are going to issue apologies, let someone first apologise for the Scorpions who killed minor children - emphasised Bećirović.

Mladen Bosić noted that their goal was, since a certain number of conclusions had already been adopted in the House of Peoples, to do the same in the House of Representatives.

- There are forces that build their political platform on political conflicts. We are the proposers, and we did not discuss it. We thought we were ready to approach the resolution of these events in a different way - emphasised Bosić, saying that Bećirović had submitted a series of initiatives that contributed to raising tensions.

13:15 In the continuation of today's session of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, after a half-hour break, the representatives voted on the agenda, reports a reporter from the Patria news agency.

The proposal by Borjana Krišto to include consideration of the loan approval from the Bank for Reconstruction in the agenda was adopted, and this issue will be discussed.

The proposal by Mirsad Mešić to form a parliamentary investigative commission to determine in whose name and with whose approval Mladen Ivanić sent a letter to the UN not to adopt the resolution was not adopted due to insufficient entity majority from the RS.

The vote on the proposal by Zaim Backović to form an investigative commission to determine why the President of the RS wrote to the UN was also not included in the agenda because there was no majority from the RS.

Denis Bećirović requested that the Information of the Council of Ministers on increasingly frequent attacks on returnees in the RS be placed on the agenda, but due to insufficient entity majority, this proposal also did not pass.

Furthermore, Bećirović requested that the points on adopting conclusions about the events during the commemoration in Potočari be removed from the agenda, as well as the information on sending a letter to the UN Secretary-General, as proposed by Aleksandra Pandurević.

Due to the lack of a general majority, the proposal did not pass. The SNSD proposal for the removal of Šefik Džaferović also did not pass this time, after which the SNSD deputies again left the session of this house.